Christine Cairns (Vocal, choral, musical theatre & strings)

Christine Cairns has sung all over the world in concert and recital and has become best known for her interpretation of the late romantic repertoire, particularly Mahler.

In 1984 Christine was propelled into an international career when a chance audition with Andre Previn led to concerts with him and the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra and then more concerts and a recording with the Vienna Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London.

Since then she has sung with orchestras throughout the USA, with conductors such as Previn, Sir Simon Rattle, Yuri Temirkanov, Vladimir Ashkenazy, and in Europe with the Philharmonic and the Berlin Philharmonic. In the UK Christine has performed with all the BBC orchestras and London orchestras, the CBSO, the Halle, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and many others.

A few years ago she took some time out professionally when her younger son was diagnosed with autism. She and her husband, conductor John Lubbock, set up a charity called Music for Autism to give concerts and make recordings to raise much needed funds for and awareness of this devastating condition.

She has recently retired from teaching at the Birmingham Conservatoire but still teaches privately at home in Oxfordshire.